Aging While Posting EditionPrevious lost to fading: >>2842087Eternal thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gd43b_ZcuU>New to /ham/? Read this shit!http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radiohttps://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service>Your search engine of choice works well too!>The FAQ is now back:>https://wiki.cybsec.io/index.php/HamFAQ>OP, the cybsec domain is gone.>NEW FAQ is updated to preview 15https://files.catbox.moe/aftx43.htm>The wiki is down but is archived: https://archive.is/PjR5s>Idiot's Guide to Coax Cablehttps://www.pcs-electronics.com/guide_coax.php>Looking for frequencies to monitor near you?http://www.radioreference.com>Basic Rx loop fundamentalshttps://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm>DIY SWL Mag. Loophttp://www.kr1st.com/swlloop.htm>Small Tx Loophttp://webclass.org/k5ijb/antennas/Small-magnetic-loops.htm>In Depth Loop articleshttp://www.kk5jy.net/magloop/>Homebrew RF Circuitshttps://www.qsl.net/va3iul/Homebrew_RF_Circuit_Design_Ideas/Homebrew_RF_Circuit_Design_Ideas.htm>NEW Libraryhttps://mega.nz/file/UCgEGAjb#rwNcnMAQCUUbSp8supsFvn9QEHCWUW86eLcZa16ZG4Y>Online Practice Tests:http://aa9pw.com/https://hamstudy.org/https://hamexam.org/> Real-Time Propagation Datahttp://prop.kc2g.com/>Space Weatherhttps://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/radio-communications>WSJT-X 2.1 User Guidehttps://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.1.2.html>Homosexual (ft8) guidehttps://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf>APRShttp://www.aprs.org/>Weather Fax resourceshttps://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdfhttps://weatherfax.com/stations/>point to point predictions, its free and will give you an idea of how much power/ what frequencies to use to reliably talk to your friendhttps://www.voacap.com/hf/>how do I into Morse code in a good way?https://pastebin.com/HByjfN4F
Decided I want a citizen band radio so I can talk shit on truck drivers. What’s a good entry unit? Do I need a license for that?
>the Chad repeaters
Thoughts on the kv4p HT? Gimmick or handy?
>>2864474
>>2864474Didn't see much of it. Basically from what I read, it just connects the radio to the phone's USB via a USB bridge which allows you to control the radio through the phone vua an app. It's output is supposedly very low. This isn't new and a few chink radios have been doing this through BT. If what I read is the truth, this isn't innovative or groundbreaking. The only thing going for it is for kit builders. Other companies like gotenna and beartooth, meshtastixlc, along with many other types of LoRa devices have been doing this for awhile but with text.So gimmick.
wassup radio guyswhat's the weirdest thing you have heard on the waves
>>2864491Half the fun is sourcing your own components and soldering it all together I guess.
>>2864495I heard this guy reading a bunch of numbers, and then it repeated the next day at the same time.No, it wasn’t the time, or anything I could determine.The voice was like a 1950’s announcer.Weird.
>they keep wasting their money to DX
>>2864503If a person likes kit building, then it isn't a gimmick. That's the thing with this hobby: there's so much to it.
>>2864495Few years ago an FM station in my state occasionally accidentally played music whaile playing sports; one night this mix played for several hours and when the game ended it was basically elevator music for another few hours.So anyway somebody must've got yelled at or fired because that never happened again.
>>2864357I was listening to random websdrs for a bit over a month and it's pretty fuckin boring. Literal nontent maybe in the 50s it was cool but it's not
Hurry up and place your bid! This is a special brick!
>>2864599
>>2864505
albrecht ae 2990 afs my beloved24.890 to 29.690mhz and ssb
>>2864682Nope. Either way still nothing going on you know it too. Get on an sdr and record something cool and post it here
>>2864897Did you reached someone with that ?
You all should be like that one ham who saved lives during Helene and not like those larpers in ARES that starts fires.
>>2864925>Yes, anon do the needful; curate, edit, and post so I'm not bored.
>>2864357tap tap SCREEEECH is this thing on?
>>2865035
>>2865035 >>2865040You know he died years ago, right? And he was never a ham either.
>>2864357alr which one of you is blasting Joe Biden AI dance music on 7.2 east coast
>>2865070and...
>>2864491Late one night I came across an intermittent raspy sounding noise I initially thought may have been some form of digital encryption. Quickly ruled that out. Mystified, 3 of us monitored it for hours until we realized it was someone snoring. :-/
>>2864897What the...? That looks like a Cherokee a buddy had back in the 90's.
>>2865179its been sold with like 10 different names since the 90s
>>2865184So it has. I didn't realize it was still around in some form or another. I'm curious how well it works now. Back then I had an older Realistic TRC-211 and it worked better than his Cherokee with the stock antenna. He ended up selling it after a few months.
>>2865119You know you can use the KiwiSDR net to locate the emitter, right?
>>2865003Yeah don't just put the file in vocaroo and post it. Your whole hobby is sitting at a desk doing nothing i know you have time. Anyways there isn't anything to to record so whatever I know
>someone actually paid $180 for a brick
>another meshtastic video
>>2864599no you are correct, though peak shortwave was the 80's. nothing worth listening to anymore especially in the US.
>contesters literally broke into our netFuck contesters. I hope they die an agonizing death.
>>2865617My father bought me a brick from Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Christmas last year, I thought it was neat. I'm sure some ham probably thinks this is equally neat, though I wouldn't care about ARRL bricks.
My callsign is F4GG0T, FOXTROT FOUR GOLF GOLF ZERO TANGO. >be me>talking about the weather to my friend>hear a disturbance >Man with a Chinese radio starts talking>ask him for his callsign>he’s fucking unlicensed>tell him I’m going to Foxhunt his ass>get up out of bed>walk to the door>nursing home door is locked>nigger nurse drags me back to bedF4GG0T SIGNING OUT, CATCH Y’ALL NEXT TIME
Hi /ham/! Got a question for you. Some background, I got limited space to hide coax. SMA coax would fit, whereas the beefier kinds like SO239 wouldn't. My rig can go up to 100 watts (no amplifiers). My question is how high of power can SMA cables handle (I'll need about 80ft)? I plan on putting up an OCFD that can go up to 80m. I have plenty of room for that long of a dipole while staying out-of-sight.
>>2866667SMA is just a connectorYou can put sma connectors on big coax and you can put PL-259 on thin coaxpower rating is best obtained from the manufacturer of the cable.But good coax isn't cheap and good thin coax certainly isn't cheap.
>>2866667the problem is the voltage that can go very high with some antennas, so insulation is important. SMA will have a maximum tenson lower than BNC and that will be lower than N or UHF. If there's arcing it's a short and the final amplifier of your rig can be killed. Problem is voltage will be difficult to calculate.Amphenol, a reputable brand, gives 75W for 10 GHz max :https://www.amphenolrf.com/rf-connectors/sma-connectors.html316W for 1 GHz for BNC :https://www.amphenolrf.com/rf-connectors/bnc-connectors.html500W for 300 MHz for UHF :https://www.amphenolrf.com/rf-connectors/uhf-connectors.html
>>2866688I do have a jumper I use to go from inside to outside. To the outside is sma while inside is pl259. The sma is used so I didn't have to drill a bigger hole. I just really want to know if it'll still be good to use the thinner coax, which>>2866793 answers.>>2866793If it's 75 watts for really good sma coax, then it's a bust. I'll just have to find a way to conceal the lmr so239. Thank you for answering me. I think I can find a way. I may just have to bury it like I had to do with the long wire antenna's coax.
>>2866808if you read his links HF is well above that since the power handling reduces the higher the frequency.
>>2866793>voltage that can go very high with some antennasTrue. Isn't the J-antenna used to avoid just that?
>>2866818Exact. The best is to try with a swr meter behind the TX, increase the power gradually, if there's a problem the swr meter will show high swr
>>2864357Started using FT8 now I've finally got it working, great to make so many connections around the world but is it normal that only around 1/10 reply to my calls or is that a sign I'm too weak in my transmissions?Was looking into remote control for the radio but it seems all of the software is quite expensive, i'll probably buy deluxe or w/e it's called though as would be good to do ft8 in the living room rather than going into the shack.
>>2868139What signal report did you get from the ones that replied? You can look at pskreporter to see how far you are getting out without the replies to your call. It should give you an idea where you getting out and who is getting your signal.
>>2868152The signal report I get is not great usually in the negative, but I often call people that are close enough that they should easily be able to hear and respond and they don't, the only thing I can think is that they are waiting for specific countries and not mine.
>>2869330>call people that are closehow close? HF tends to skip
>not making the 135.7kHz dipoleYou are not a true ham radio operator until you have this antenna resonate and 1:1 swr.
>>2869425I wish I had the real estate to do something like that.I once saw a Lowfer set up for around 170 kHz. A base loaded ~40 ft guyed vertical with a 6ft tophat. The primary coil was 14g copper house wire wrapped around a Rubbermaid garbage can. The matching coil inside it was copper wire wrapped around a paint can. I don't recall the ground system he had. 1 watt slow CW.
>>2869425Last time this came up, we found that the Golden Gate Bridge would be a good armature for such an antenna. At such a low frequency I guess the antenna will have to be made of a silver tube.A resonant loop antenna, though...
Hey, /ham/, I have seen a lot of interesting antenna arrays in Tokyo. (pic related)Does anyone know what these arrays are used for / at which frequencies they operate? I have only ever seen them in Tokyo (or atleast nowhere in Europe or the USA)Reverse image search doesn't come up with any meaningful results.Here are a few things to note:- they share their position with cellular equipment.- they are connected to what looks like standard cellular RRHs (remote radio heads)- each antenna has two cables connectedNormal cellular sector antennas also have two coaxes each. (for each channel)However they are fed +45° and -45° signals matching the 90° phase difference of the radiating elements that are also placed 90° to each other.But how would you have two 90° elements inside a stick antenna like this?- they seem to always have an antenna in the middle of the array- to me it looks like a directon finding array with a reference antenna in the middleAny information and feedback is very welcome. (Use, system, antenna type / manufacturer, etc.)
>>2870205Here is another shot of a different array.
>>2870206>>2870205I have no idea what it is but it looks like that :https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W-OAM#W-OAM_typeG
>>2870208Thanks, this looks like a good start.I will look into that.
>>2870205>>2870206>>2870210and or thathttp://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~yj3k-ssk/PHS.st/CS8EL.htmlit seems to be linked to W-OAM, Willcom OAM, japanese specific cellular network in the 2000s
>>2870210https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%A0Willcom company wikipedia page in japan. Myabe it's a 80mhz cellular network, but I am not sure, google translation isn't good
>>2870210Finally in englishhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Handy-phone_Systemfrequency around 1900 MHz so these are colinear antennas, it provides a huge gain and they are omnidirectional in azimut but with a horizontal beam on elevation, no need to talk to the sky
Which one of you started this just so you can pretend to be important by providing emergency communications?https://nypost.com/2024/11/10/us-news/deadly-nj-wildfires-continue-to-rage-leaving-region-blanketed-in-smoke/
Sounds like >>2870441is the answer
>>2870205Strangely, it seems that there are two, in one cae three, cables entering each antenna. Why would that be is these are colinear antennas?
>>2870616maybe one band is Tx and one is Rx and there's a splitter / combiner at the bottom of the antenna
>>2870616This is what I am wondering as well. Each antenna also seems to have a small enclosure, similar to some older LNBs.Maybe they have some kind of active filtering / low noise and or variable gain amps or something. The second cable might just be power and some kind of control bus. It does look similar to the small motor box that is used to set the phasing on the sector panels but this wouldn't make a lot of sense on these.>>2870626Also an interesting idea but for once a colinear antenna is propably to narrow band for both bands and putting the duplexer on the antenna would only double the amount of coax needed. Still something to keep in mind I guess. I was hoping to come across one of these antennas in some electronics store in Akihabara but no luck there.
>power up frequency counter>display background glows but LCD is blankArgh!Matrix style LCD with fluorescent blue background (no backlight). Open up unit. Reseated ribbon cable to display numerous times, voltage regulator output is perfect. What causes this? :-(
is the quansheng that youtube is shilling actually good? usb-c is nice
>>2871001they are easily firmware modifiable so that's the primary reason for their popularity not sure if the RF section is really any better
>>2871001modulation is good, far nicer than baofeng, from stock, with the firmware I got, it's even a bit better.they are cheap as fuck, can do a lot of things as >>2871025 said, the firmwares give a lot of possibilities. Funny that a good antenna will cost as much as the radio kek
>>2866334kino
>>2871027any rec for a good antenna? sorry if noob question
>>2871153no reason not to ask, anon, the diamond SRJ77 can be a nice addition, it costs as much as the quansheng kekyou can go with a real (there are more copies than original) nagoya NA-771 with female SMA too, cheaper but good quality still
>>2871105There's that kid word again.
>>2871274It's okay boomer, you'll understand the lingo one day.
I got a CB radio for free. What's a good budget antenna setup for an apartment? Couldn't I grab a 50 dollar magnetic antenna and slap it on a cookie sheet instead of paying 150 for an A99?
>>2871437Get a used one for dirt cheap, get a nanovna to test your setup. 5/8 doesn't need radials, 1/4 needs them
>>2871437dipole taped to a window
Plz forgive, I am new>>2871447Used magnetic/mobile, you mean?>nanovnaI assume that fulfills the role of SWR meter?What's a radial?>>2871480I assume picrel with the middle part taped to a window and the ends taped up/down against a wall?
>>2871607>>2871437I did get a successful (but noisy) receive on the antenna that came with my SDR.
when I was a kid, about 10yo, I had a small radio that I used to listen to cassettes on, I once attached a length of copper wire to the the antenna, wrapped the wire around a piece of quartz after about 20cm and then hung the rest out of my bedroom window. I forced the dial on AM band to the highest it would go and heard Morse Code. I did the same on FM and heard what I thought was taxi radios, turned out they were airplane frequencies.
>>2871607>Used magnetic/mobile, you mean?yes, or maybe a base station antenna if you can find one not too cumbersome>>nanovna>I assume that fulfills the role of SWR meter?yes, you can trim your antenna to the frequency you'll use>What's a radial?like a counterpoise, in picrel the antenna on the left has radials, it is 1/4 of the wavelength (300/freq in MHz)
>>2871447>>2871652>Get a used one for dirt cheapMost of the ones I'm seeing on US eBay are unbranded and run about 30 bucks after shipping, about as much as a new one, picrel.Is there a certain type or model I should look out for? Or, am I supposed to look elsewhere? (Facebook groups, swap meets)
>>2871607You can tape it up vertically for local and horizontal for dx.
>>2871731too small, you'll be frustrated and it's a waist of your money.
>>2871772>>2871652Does the thickness of the cabling matter for the SWR meter? I was thinking about putting a cheap adapter cable between the radio -> vna and using the regular thick coax cable + an adapter for antenna -> vna
>>2871844no it's ok, it matters for power handling and loss at high frequencies (above 100 Mhz)
I'm gonna start working on/restoring an old tube ham radio. Do I really need a VTVM, or will a 1GHz scope + RF probe work fine? I'm looking at a $15 one from Ukraine on ebay
>>2871908all you really need is a meter, audio signal generator and a scopeyou've been watching too much Mr. Carlson
>>2871911and a dummy load ofcassuming it's a transmitter
>>2871911>meterWhat kind of meter? DMM, SWR, power meter, etc. Fortunately I have all three>audio signal generatorWouldn't I need more than a few kHz in order to cover the actual radio bands? Like at least 30MHz for 10m and above?>Mr. CarlsonI have no idea who that is
>>2871959I'll chime in here too. A radio buddy (now an SK since 1999) used to build tube CW transmitters and receivers. He had the following test & measurement equipment: tube tester, analog multimeter, dummy load, a 10 MHz oscilloscope, and an old Heathkit RF signal generator that covered from the AM band to 30 MHz or so. Being an old guy he was comfortable with the analog equipment. He also had a cheap digital multimeter so he could measure capacitors. I think his analog meter could measure inductance too but i'm not sure now. With that, you are set.An RF signal generator can usually modulate an audio tone within the human audio range onto an RF signal that obviously has the range to cover the HF radio bands of interest.'Mr. Carlson's Lab', a great youtube channel. He restores and repairs radios as a profession. I'm about a 45 minute drive from him.
>>2871959audio generators are good for the voice amplification section of transmitters which are one of the first parts to go. Plus it makes it easy to follow the signal path through amplification.For receivers you do need an RF generator especially if you're doing alignment.
>>2871996>>2872007I have an old Heathkit signal generator that has a switchable internal 400Hz audio tone, as well as a more modern Wavetek generator, so I think I'm set on that front. In addition, I have a dummy load, nice Fluke DMM, and 1GHz Tek scopeI'll have to check this Carlson guy out
> 20 foot coax + dipole antenna + nanoVNA is $130>for a $5 CB radio Couldn't I just slap a $40 firestik on it and call it a day?
>>2872183absolutely
It seems my base station options under $50 are:> 5/8 Firestik and have a 3 foot dong hanging off the back of my radio>TRAM 703-HC mag mount antenna with tinfoil ground plane, and maybe a shitty $25 swr meter or cough up for a VNAWhich one would you guys go with?
>>2872208shitty swr meter, look if you can't find one used for cheapfor the antennas, the longer the better, I am not sure you'll pick up anything with a 2ft high antenna
>>2872208Personally, I wouldn't chose either. I'd cut a wire dipole and throw it up into a tree. But using your restrictive parameters i'd go with the mag-mount. It looks like the quickest & cheapest way to get on the air and would give me the ability to slap it on my car and go mobile if I wanted to. Both of your listed antenna choices are compromise antennas so I don't think one will give better performance over the other. And with the Firestick it looks like you need to get a mount for it.
>>2871625When I was about 13 I was playing around with one of those Radio Shack 150 in 1 electronic kits they had back in the day. I was experimenting with the AM radio circuit and connected it up to our clothesline hoping to pull in a distant FM rock station. Dial had no frequency indicators so I tuned around and heard continuous repeating morse code. I copied the dots and dashes and showed it to my Electricity teacher who id'd it as an LF airport beacon about 6 km away.
Anyone ever build their own antenna tower? What's the highest tower one can build by themselves without the need of heavy equipment or 2nd hand help? Are there any kits that allow you to move different antennas up there without the need of climbing it?
>>2872712the better question is what you can get away with in your town/county (assuming US)but a quite tall tower can be built with nothing but a gin pole. You're gonna need a concrete truck for the base though or you're gonna be mixing a lot of concrete. For a rohn g series tower the pad is 2.4 yards of concrete, they go up substantially from there.
>>2872712>move different antennas up there without the need of climbing it?How do expect to secure the antenna or run the coax? Magic? A team of humming birds?
>>2872712to access the antennas easily the tilt over mast can be fine, assisted with a winch, there can be heavy stuff on the mast and you'll be able to get it erect by yourself
>>2872727https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mynik3R4ySUI have a 6m long tube secured to the side of my house and I am considering doing something like that, or maybe with a vertical movement so that I can access the top of the mast on the roof (very easy to climb onto the roof)
>>2864357Question about FRS GMRS.BLUF: How do I input the privacy code portion of what is FRS channel 22 plus privacy code 6 into the UV-K5?I have a Motorolla FRS walkie talkie that is picking up conversations from WAY farther away than it should on channel 22 with "privacy code" 6. It is just barely able to pick up the transmissions. I also own a UV-K5 with a much better antenna, which could receive these guys better. I can easily input what is the FRS-GMRS channel 22 which is just 462.750 but I have been looking at the manual and I cannot figure out what a FRS privacy on a basic level actually is, or how to input it on the UV-K5. I can hear Channel 22 on it just fine but I can't figure out how to make it listen to channel 22 + whatever Motorolla says is privacy code 6.Thanks in advance.
>>2872480So basically $100 is the sweet spot? >>287218325 bucks for a crap SWR meter, say $20 for speaker wire and an so-239, $40 for a good run of coax cable (or $20 for a yellowman special), totals around 60-80 bucks for a DIY dipole and $80-$100 to get one premade.
>>2873217>>2872480Realistically speaking, how big is the difference between a dipole and a magmount in an apartment? I'm probably not going to use the radio that much.
>>2873218Mag-mounts don't work well inside. If you're using it for CB, the verticals with loading coils (the short whipped mag-mount kind) are absolute trash. If you're using it on 2m or higher, you are better off making a 1/4 wave ground plane. No, sticking a mag-mount to a sheet pan does nearly nothing for reception and less for Tx. If you're just listening, throw a piece of wire about a half wavelength out the window and stick the end in the center of the antenna connector, no coax needed. If you insist on using a vertical inside, I'd suggest a rubber duck. However, if you're transmitting, you'll be disappointed with any of this unless the antenna is outside. You still need the SWR meter for a pre-made antenna, dipole or mag-mount, as they still need to be tuned.
If you want something that will take minimum effort, pic related plus some coax cable will get you by.
Just don't expect to talk to the moon.
>>2873349Well for what it's worth, when I got my first radio (Icom W2A) I was loaned an old Radio Shack CB magmount that had been trimmed to provide a near perfect match at 146.520 MHz. Stuck it on top of my fridge. Got into our local repeater 24 km away nearly full quiet at 0.5 watts. I placed it on a cookie sheet and put it on the roof but had to bump up the power to 1.5 watts and while copyable, there was some white noise. Back on the fridge it went until I rigged up a 6 element quagi. Got me on the air.
I have a yeasu FT-2980, the power is directly connected to my truck battery. I didn't want to mount the antenna on top of the truck cab so I installed a mount behind the truck cab on the passenger side. When I'm driving I hear a fuzz sound when ever someone is broadcasting. So my question is, am I hearing this sound because I did not mount the mount to bare metal so it is not properly grounded? Or is it because I did not secure the coax cable properly under my truck?
>>2873754you're hearing your alternator
>>2872789When I was a kid everyone had a TV antenna “tower” next to their house constructed like the one that the guy in picrel is hanging on to.Like, there must have been millions of them.what ever happened to them, are they still legal (I assume they are), does anyone still have one, and can they be re-purposed for other RF functions?Even the flintstones shows houses with these big TV antennas. Why is it such a b*tch to get one of these nowadays
>>2873773How so? Sorry I'm still new to ham
Actually read why it could be the alternator, thanks for the help. Looks like I'll reroute it going on top of the cab.
